Akin Gump’s Elderkin leads Janssen Biotech to appellate court win

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP intellectual property partner Dianne Elderkin led the team that successfully defended Janssen Biotech Inc. in appellate court against claims the company infringed two patents, according to the firm. The case revolved around claims by AbbVie Inc. that Janssen’s Stelara, used to treat psoriasis, infringed two AbbVie antibody patents.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in Abbvie Deutschland v. Janssen Biotech and Centorcor Biologics, App. No. 2013-1338, -1346 (Fed. Cir., July 1, 2014) a Massachusetts District Court’s judgments of invalidity in the infringement action and a separate review of a Patent Office decision in an interference action. The decision, written by Judge Alan D. Lourie, found that “record evidence sufficiently supported the jury verdict that the asserted claims lacked adequate written description.” The Federal Circuit also rejected AbbVie’s collateral estoppel argument and its request for a new trial based on an allegedly erroneous evidentiary ruling and jury instruction.

Based in Akin Gump’s Philadelphia office, Elderkin concentrates in trying patent infringement cases. Elderkin’s more than 25 years of patent litigation experience spans a broad range of life sciences technology, her focus in recent years has been in the biotechnology area, including cases having to do with genetic engineering and antibody technology.

Also based in the Philadelphia office, Mullin regularly tries cases in federal courts and before arbitration panels. Her cases have involved diverse technological fields such as recombinant antibodies, medical devices and methods, pharmaceuticals and semiconductor wafer processing.

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